Monthly Archives: May 2013

Some wonderful friends of mine recently started a local publication called Wolftree. It’s a publication “that aspires to encourage and share the stories of sincere artists, dreamers, and adventurers of the Midwest.” It’s pretty darn neat. Go check it out! Maybe even think about buying it… 🙂

Last weekend was the launch party of Wolftree’s volume 1, and I was presented with the exciting and challenging opportunity to make a cake for the party. Brooke, my friend and one of Wolftree’s creators, asked me, “Could you do an actual tree cake?! Earthy like?!” My first thought was, “Oh dear… I don’t know if I have the skills or tools to do that.”

However, I did lots of research– mostly scouring pages and pages of tree cakes on CakeCentral.com– and the dim light began to grow brighter, giving me hope that I could do this. I wrote down all the ideas I could think of and narrowed it down to the best one: Make the trunk out of rice krispies covered in chocolate, and use angel food cake for the leafy top.

Hi there!
I hope you’re excited to see a healthy recipe here today ’cause I know it’s been a while…

This may be the recipe that changed my perspective on quinoa. I mean, I’ve always been on board with quinoa because of how awesomely good for you it is, but until now, I never actually got excited about eating it. I thought that quinoa was bland and mushy, but I finally realized that quinoa is only as bland and mushy as you make it. Duh!

I’ve found that, like with rice, quinoa’s flavor can be greatly enhanced by adding more flavors in the cooking process. So I now always cook it in either chicken stock or vegetable stock, whichever I have on hand. Even substituting half or three-fourths of the cooking water for stock will help improve the taste.

It has happened.
The weather has finally begun to feel like Spring! It’s wonderful.
Some days even feel like summer.

Aside from the beautiful weather, one of my favorite aspects of this season is the price of fruit. Grapes drop to a reasonable price, and I gobble them up by the bagful.

This Sweet Grape Salad recipe is from my grandma. The first time she fed it to me, I was enamored. I took seconds, thirds, and fourths, but I didn’t feel that bad because, come on, it’s fruit! Fruit is good for you. Though I enjoy it throughout the seasons, it’s more ideal for Spring and Summer due to the cheaper prices of grapes (in the Midwest, at least).